How Easy is it to Paint on Fabric?
If you know the trick to painting on plain fabric, you have the ability to design fabrics such as tablecloths, napkins, and other textiles, to complement your home decor.
12/07/2023
Did you know that you can use ordinary acrylic craft paint to paint designs on fabrics? All you need to add to acrylic fabric paint to be able to paint onto cotton or linen fabric is a fabric painting medium, and this product can be found at most craft and hobby stores or for online shopping.
Painting on fabric is a beautiful way of turning plain fabric into colourful creations that are one-of-a-kind and uniquely yours. Even if you have never painted on fabric before, you will quickly master this technique and even if you don't have an artistic bone in your body, you can still use pre-made stencils or make your own stencils to make this project even easier.
What fabric should I use for painting?
The best fabric for fabric painting are cotton and linen as these accept the paint better than other synthetic fabrics. Another excellent fabric for painting is silk. This is great if you want to create unique bedding for a guest bedroom or design bedding for a children's theme bedroom. It is also an easy and affordable way to design a range of custom fabrics for textiles. Think tablecloths that can be painted for specific occasions or celebrations, napkins for events, or even hand-painted towels for a bathroom. These are all possible by using acrylic craft paint and fabric painting medium.
Cotton and linen are the best fabrics for fabric painting projects, but you can still paint on cotton/polyester blends such as flat sheets and pillowcases.
What else do I need for fabric painting?
Invest in a selection of quality artist's paintbrushes that you can use again and again for all your fabric painting projects. If you plan on using stencils for your designs, you will also need stencil brushes.
Is fabric painting permanent?
There is an easy way to extend the life of painted fabrics and these are as follows:
- Wash, dry and iron the fabric beforehand to ensure the fabric is free from any chemicals used during the manufacturing process and also ensure that any shrinkage occurs before painting.
- After leaving the paint to dry for a couple of days, use a warm iron to go over the back of the fabric as this helps to embed the paint into the fabric threads. Dampen a clean cloth large enough to cover the painted designs and iron over the painted areas. The steam will further embed the paint into the fabric fibres.
- Hand wash all painted items in warm water. Machine washing is too harsh on painted fabrics.
Using a warm iron over the design after painting embeds the paint into fabric fibres to prevent the design from fading too quickly.
Tips for painting on fabric
You will find plenty of tips online for painting fabric but the ones below are the most important to keep in mind:
- Have a piece of non-laminated cardboard (cardboard that has not been sealed and is still absorbent) that can be placed under where you will be painting. This will reduce any bleeding that may occur.
- Another trick to prevent any paint bleeding from occurring is to use ModPodge, clear acrylic sealer, or white paint to outline the design. This outline serves as a barrier and will prevent bleeding.
- When painting, either freehand or using a stencil, do not have the paint too runny. You want the paint to be just thick enough to work with easily. If stencilling, apply paint to the stencil brush and dab on a piece of tissue to remove excess paint.